BigMattT

It is definitely odd they would make a change like this to one ship, mid-season, mid-month.

Two weeks ago, when a drink was over $11, we paid the difference, plus tax/grat on that difference. My cosmos were $1.25 I believe, due to a list price of $12.

The first night of the cruise is a fantastic night to book Pinnacle. It won’t be busy, so service is usually wonderful.

Our favorite way to avoid formal nights is ordering room service that evening. Call room service within the first hour the dining room is open, and you can order from the formal night menu 🙂

48 minutes ago, loveandpeas said:

How do you get a Pinnacle lunch? You can't book ahead, right?

Correct. Book at any dining venue podium after boarding. (Sometimes it shows up in Navigator available to book once onboard… but oddly it showed for the wrong day during our last cruise, so I would stick with speaking to someone standing at a restaurant podium.)

Sometimes there’s an extra dining reservation podium setup in the atrium outside Ocean Bar on Pinnacle ships after boarding.

Rudi’s on K-Dam and Rotterdam have never disappointed us, and it’s our first choice when available.

Canaletto seems to be the most consistent in quality from ship to ship. It’s a solid choice.

Tamarind has been wildly inconsistently for us in terms of quality— seems to depend how busy the restaurant is— a shame, because their menu is the most exciting of all the speciality restaurants.

We prefer Pinnacle for lunch more than dinner.

Last year, Husband and I only got off the ship for 30 mins in Ketchikan to buy a stuffed toy otter for a niece.

It was still a fantastic, relaxing time. The scenery from the ship was excellent, and the spa was practically empty in ports.

Granted, it was our 3rd time to Alaska. But, it’s your vacation. Do what you want. Having zero obligations was what we needed for a week. 

7 hours ago, Terpsfan1 said:

I am looking for someone who can give me information about Oceanview cabins (EE) on Deck 3.  It is my understanding that there is a promenade deck that goes by the window, even though it is considered unobstructed.  Was this distracting? Was there a lot of foot traffic?  Thoughts from someone who has stayed in this type of cabin.

 

Thank you

We just got off Zaandam— we had switched from Deck 3 to deck 2 ten days before sailing.

I peeked into a deck 3 on disembarkation day— and the OV’s on deck 3 are significantly smaller than deck 2.

It was just as easy to go up one deck to go outside and enjoy the extra space in the cabin. 

3 hours ago, beach spring said:

BigMatt, you mentioned reading while in a lounger on the promenade deck.  Are those loungers considered the "property" of the staterooms at that point or is it a "free" space?  I don't want to get into any arguments!  

 

My other question:  Can someone describe the afternoon teas, if those still exist?  I've seen lots of posts about meals but none about the teas which I enjoyed on a previous HAL cruise.  TIA

They are for anyone. Zaandam does not have Lanai Cabins.

Afternoon tea is served in the dining room. Finger sandwiches, scones, pastries, and PG Tips black tea. It’s nice. (Every other day the pastries and sandwiches taste a day old 🤣)

16 minutes ago, Colorado Klutch said:

 

Doesn't really matter. Unless you go there in the middle of the night, the Crowe's Nest will be packed with people and every single chair will already have a butt parked in it. 

I’ve been on 3 sold-out Pinnacle class sailings when, while busy, seats were available pretty consistently. The exception was on occasions when high demand speakers and interpreters were presenting. (Golden Gate Bridge passing, Glacier Bay, etc.)

Glad to hear these may not be the permanent seating. Tiny chairs and cruise lines insistence on narrow arms on every seating arrangement are the bane of my onboard life.

Oh my god what did they do to the Crows Nest?! Woah. Metal chairs with narrow arms? Yikes. 

1 hour ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

I like the Vista class. I've been on 3 of HAL's 4, plus Cunard's QE (my current favorite ship), and I'm trying QV this fall. I love the spa hydropool on the Vistas. That's the only amenity I find lacking on the R class ships. 

Yes, the small thermal suite whirlpool on Zaandam isn’t really sufficient in size. But I do love that little outside deck accessible only from the thermal suite. Was great to step outside into the 40 degree air after a steam :))

Ooh! That was my biggest complaint about Rotterdam and K-Dam… with no promenade deck seating, there was no quiet shaded outdoor spaces without loud music or an upcharge. Hope they’re adding shade to those decks!

10 minutes ago, OlsSalt said:

I loved "reading" my audio books onboard these smaller ships - plenty of places indoors and out  with just enough sound buffer when using the earphones.

 

Good thing with smaller ships you can easily survey where others have also found the quiet corners. And you can also easily move to a new spot, if things do get noisy or used for a public activity. 

Comically, one night I seemed to be one stop ahead of the Bar Crawl in each venue I sat down in. I didn’t even realize there were Bar Crawls on HAL… but the bartender said they had 50 people the week before! For our voyage it was just 7 chanting and yelling between musician sets one night in the bars. Wild!

23 hours ago, Monarda55 said:

OP, you mentioned enjoying “finding cozy nooks to read” onboard. Would you care to share some of your favorites?  We’ll be on Zaandam in a few weeks and I’d love to have some advance intel on where the best nooks are. 🙂

Some are cozier than others— and it was usually a matter of moving different places when people started getting loud or events started…

During the day, the seats closest to the shops in the Mix bar (near the future cruise desk) were super comfy with a great view. Despite the foot traffic past it, the sounds from nearby activities were pretty much blocked, and it was a great quiet spot for reading.

Explorer’s Cafe/Library was very comfortable but also tended to have people playing board games and cards somewhat loudly at times. The explorer’s LOUNGE, however, had some seating tucked away by the windows that was great when there wasn’t a performance going on.

I had a thermal suite pass for the week, and sat in the “Greenhouse Relaxation Room” several times. Great view. Always quiet.

Atrium on deck 3 had some seating and rarely ever people down there. (The organ was either never played during our voyage or we missed it.)

Most surprisingly, there was booth seating in the lido buffet tucked away in a corner nearest to the pool end that was very comfortable and relatively quiet between most meal periods.

I will say that the Crows Nest on Zaandam was much louder than any of the other Crow’s Nests on other ships… I usually get through 2-3 books in the Crows Nest, but barely went up there on Zaandam.

Of course, depending on the weather, a lounger on the Promenade is unbeatable for watching the world go by between chapters.

Just now, Blackduck59 said:

I'm happy to hear from a satisfied customer. We are not long time cruisers with megahuman status on 4 different lines. We are just some average folks who will be sailing on HAL for the first time in August. We actually board Zaandam in Boston when @lissie gets off. I won't know how it "used to be" so we're going on with an open mind.

Thanks for letting us know that you had a great time Zaandam.

If you’re ok staying at one of those old well-designed convention Marriotts built in the 1980’s but maintained well and renovated 5 years ago, you’ll have a splendid time on Zaandam. We’re not usually all that social on cruises, but we ended up meeting some of the friendliest people on this voyage. Universally, everyone kept remarking how nice it was to be on a smaller ship even though it’s obviously not sparkling and new. Fewer frills, but sturdy quality where it counted.

9 minutes ago, denton1 said:

I really enjoyed your review. We will be on Zaandam for a 25 day cruise at the end of July. This will be our longest cruise ever. Your description of the ship reassures us that it will be a pleasure on this ship. 

It is certainly what you make of it— but it’s utterly charming.

Is that Iceland trip? The crew seems legitimately excited about some of the lesser traveled itineraries coming up this year. Several specifically mentioned Iceland.

1 hour ago, REOVA said:

Agree, will be sad when HAL's smaller ships are all gone.

 

Can you expand on what was wrong with your Eurodam cruise and which cruise it was? 

Was Eurodam August to Alaska 2022. Without belaboring the point, they were really struggling with food quality and servers seemed tired of hearing about it. Pinnacle especially.

We’re disembarking Zaandam in Montreal tomorrow, and having followed these boards for a while, I’m so grateful to have finally experienced an R Class HAL ship.
 

For a couple in our early 40’s, we were a little concerned reading some feedback about lack of entertainment and dining options… but those were totally unfounded. In fact, we both agreed this is our favorite class ship now, and we’re a little saddened there are only two left in the fleet.

The vibe is totally relaxing taking walks on the wide promenade, finding cozy nooks to read, few crowds anywhere… and the short walks to get everywhere were much appreciated.

The Main Dining Room and Pinnacle were leaps and bounds better than our experience on the Eurodam last summer… and the vastly quieter dining venues were welcome after the loudness of Koningsdam and Rotterdam. MDR inclusions are obviously victims to some economic realities… but the value here is still significant vs the competition. And the service is simply stellar. (Canaletto seems to be the most consistent dining option across all ships, and it didn’t disappoint here either. Solid Italian. A classic Italian chophouse presentation of lamb chops is always one of my favs.)

Truly our only grumble was a consistently long line at Guest Services due to an overwhelming number of passengers with a poor understanding of how their own devices worked trying to access the Navigator app. If we had a dollar for every person who bragged about being a 5-Star Mariner to others in line before being belligerent or telling their life story to the Guest Services crew…..
 

Understandably, people have differing ideas of what makes a great vacation…But with a ship small enough to call on interesting New England and Canada ports daily, we didn’t have any need for late night entertainment.  Considering the upcoming trends for the next generation of vacationers without kids is a larger focus on comfortable spaces to gather in small groups, access to internet-connected personal entertainment devices, and a lessened emphasis on alcohol/partying… I can’t imagine a circumstance where a lack of stage show or comic we’ve never heard of would influence our peer group’s vacation decision. HAL may have (inadvertently?) created the ideal vacation brand for introverts.

Comfy beds. Roomy Oceanview cabin. A remarkably good looking ship for nearly 25 years old.

Embarkation in Boston was a breeze… we arrived shortly after our assigned 2:30pm boarding time and the terminal was virtually empty. Only saw 4 others boarding while we did. (We later heard lots of people discussing how they ignored their assigned time and arrived early… so perhaps our experience wasn’t typical.)

We maybe would have liked to see a NY Deli-like venue or an always-open option for light bites when the MDR and Lido were between meals. (From ~9:30am-11:00am and 8:30pm-10:30pm, the *only* option is room service… and we rarely want to eat in our cabin.) Even a “grab and go” section of sandwiches and bagged chips added to the Explorations Cafe or the Dive-In would be nice.

Thanks again to everyone who has amassed such a trove of knowledge on these classic ships on here. Here’s hoping we can sail on R Classes a few more times before they’re a thing of the past!

Bravo HAL!

On the Zaandam now, and a notice in the room from embarkation said “please allow 48 hours for laundry to be returned.”

Our cabin steward said the night of May 10th was last chance to send in laundry for our unlimited laundry service. (We disembark May 13th.)

Craps was a good time last month. A nice crowd nightly. Mostly congenial guests. Charismatic dealers for the most part. Didn’t see it open during the day.

$5 min and 2x odds max.

On 4/30/2023 at 10:44 AM, AncientWanderer said:

 

 

Oh....I really love the stuff, OlsSalt, even though it is indeed paté rather than true foie gras.  They use it for an appetizer as well, with some type of berry compote, and I alway look forward to it.  To me...smooth, creamy and with a kind of special delicate flavor that melts in the mouth.  I keep trying various patés from specialty markets to find something with that same je ne sais quois.  With no luck so far.

 

So there you have it.  To each his own in the food department.   🤷‍♀️

Agree— the wine and shallot in the foie gras pate makes it for a wonderful accompaniment for the filet. Almost like a sauce— especially with the black truffle mingling in there. A seared medallion would add fat, but not a lot of flavor in comparison.

I highly doubt the foie pâté is “canned”. The price point difference with foie gras is getting the large lobes of it to sear as medallions. Frozen nuggets, in comparison, are high quality, much cheaper, and easily made into pate… which is what I think they do on the ship. At least on ships with a Rudi’s standalone.

(The pop-up Rudi’s on Eurodam, however, served us awful canned foie gras pate piped on a toast point… glad they stopped the pop-up version.)

My point is: you can taste the can. And there’s been zero metal interfering with the taste on Koningsdam and Rotterdam so far post pandemic. 
 

Oh wow! Gorgeous photo. Can’t wait to see this view next week!

48 minutes ago, OlsSalt said:

Chamber music belongs in an intimate setting. Surrounded by exceptional acoustics.

 

Hope to God they do NOT amplify the classical ensembles whey they ask them fill the vast emptiness of the Main Stage Theater, like they do when they use these ensembles to back a BBC nature film. (Groan)

 

It is a shame HAL is not honoring this more intimate classical option, as part  of its touted "music walk"

 

 

The Main Stage theaters I've been in on HAL ships seem extensively treated to be acoustically 'dead'. I agree it's the wrong type of space for a classical ensemble, but failing to mic them in a space with such acoustics would be an even bigger mistake. Cruise ship construction, being devoid of wood paneled high ceilings... are rarely going to make for good acoustic instrument listening in general. But I'd be happy to be able to enjoy the Classical Musicians, amplified, in the Main Stage space versus the cramped LC Room with so much other noise permeating their very skilled performances.

When I get ahold of my PCC, she’s amazing and seems to find ways to accomplish almost everything. Sometimes it takes calling early in the day and leaving a message.

She’s been around a long time, remembers me (or does a great job pretending to remember me), reviews the booking in full each time to catch issues, but best of all: she doesn’t give information she’s not 100% about.

When you get a good one, they’re worth their weight in gold.

1 hour ago, RAS4331 said:

Or is the appeal mainly in the fact that it is more private than the poolside hot tubs?

Yes, more private, no kids around, but also much better for lounging in and relaxing.  The regular hot tubs on HAL ships are shallow and small. The hydrotherapy pool in the spa has water deep enough to cover you while laying on the metal lounger bars atop the very strong bubbles.

“In partnership with Classical Music Monthly Magazine, for an additional charge, select passengers* will experience the thrill of bartenders humming their favorite selections by Bach.

* - This is an exclusive new experience only available to book onboard through the Holland America Navigator app on itineraries visiting Astoria, Oregon.”

~ quoted from me, being sarcastic